Halle Berry is set to make her directorial debut with a mixed martial arts action drama.
The Oscar winner will also star in Bruised, which features many of the stunt co-ordinators and producers involved in the John Wick movie franchise.
Halle plays a no-nonsense character called Sofia in John Wick 3: Parabellum, opposite Keanu Reeves.
The new film, written by Michelle Rosenfarb, will centre upon a disgraced MMA fighter who is reunited with the kid she walked out on ahead of a career-defining fight.
Production starts in March (19), according to Deadline.
Bruised won’t be the first time Berry has got involved in the business of making movies – she served as a producer on last year’s (17) Kidnap and 2010’s Frankie & Alice. She also executive produced TV movies Lackawanna Blues and Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and TV series Extant.
Berry is on the verge of a career revival in front of the camera after a string of critical flops – in addition to John Wick 3: Parabellum, she has also signed on to star in the remake of 1985 thriller Jagged Edge.
And she’s keen to take on more action roles after training with the elite stunt team for her new Keanu Reeves movie, documenting her fitness sessions online as she got into fighting shape.
“#Sofia has been my most physically challenging role to date,” she wrote on Instagram. “I have never trained this hard before in my life, and I’ve become a better person for it – challenges like this keep us youthful, energized, confident – it helps us realize we can do more than we ever thought.”
